London (AFP)

Chelsea qualified for the quarter-finals of the Champions League by beating (2-0), Thursday, Atlético Madrid to which he left no chance, with a very controlled performance.

At no time did the Colchoneros give the feeling of being able to reverse the advantage offered by the beautiful goal of Olivier Giroud, in Bucharest, where the match had been relocated due to travel limitations linked to the Covid.

The pressing imposed by the Blues for most of the match and their circulation of the ball completely stifled the meager offensives of the Madrilenians.

Sign of their helplessness, Diego Simeone released before the hour mark a completely transparent Luis Suarez, causing a smirk from the Uruguayan.

The Spaniards may find the arbitration little to their advantage, with a penalty refused for a fault by Azpilicueta which seemed very real on Yannick Carrasco (26th).

Nine minutes from the end, Stefan Savic was also excluded for a nudge to the sternum of Antonio Rüdiger, even if the German added.

But the only one to stand out a little from their very dull performance was Joao Felix who had all the actions worthy of the name on the rojiblanco side (39th, 76th, 80th, 90 + 1).

The sterility of the game of the Spanish leader owes a lot to the new very convincing performance of Chelsea who finds the quarterfinals of the C1 for the first time since 2014.

Deprived, in the middle, of Jorginho and Mason Mount, suspended, Thomas Tuchel had trusted his attack to 170 M EUR, Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner and Kaï Havertz.

A paying option since the trio combined perfectly for the opening of the scoring.

On a distant Spanish free-kick, played indirectly rather than sending the ball into the box, Werner deflected Kieran Trippier's cross attempt, which was then cleared by Ngolo Kanté towards Havertz, who found Werner on the wing.

The German raised his head and perfectly balanced his center for Ziyech who tumbled full axis and deceived Oblak (1-0, 34th).

Perfectionist as he is, Tuchel will undoubtedly regret that his team did not take shelter faster while Werner (48th) or Ziyech (56th) had the possibility.

A recurring cute sin, since out of the 9 matches won by his team since his arrival, for 4 draws and 0 defeats, 5 were by a goal gap.

But the second goal ended up coming at the start of added time, by Emerson who had just returned a few seconds earlier (2-0, 90 + 4).

Even if he does not seem as strong as Manchester City, this Chelsea, with his impressive defensive strength - 11 out of 14 games without conceding a goal -, especially given the absence of Thiago Silva, may have his say for the final victory.

© 2021 AFP